Saturday, September 09, 2006
My thoughts on arriving...
Hey guys,
On arrival... the feeling was actually surreal. Taking the subway, walking on the streets, it almost feels like I am stepping into a movie. There is an air of freedom as I look around me. So many people of different races and skin colour, speaking different languages, white americans, african americans, chinese, koreans, indians, japanese, hispanics, europeans... This is America! I can't wait to see the rest of it.
Anyway, the place I am staying at is called University City. It is 1 of 3 cities in Philadelphia(or so I was told). Well needless to say, University City seems like it was built for the Universities. I think there are a few universities around here, like Drexel, and of course, the famous University of Pennsylvania. Its full of students, and the environment I can only describe it as vibrant, yet scholarly. People here take their school work very seriously, of course its not surprising since this is the top 7 university in US now (last year it was 4th). But what's different from NUS is I guess people really enjoy studying here. Their faces says it all!
Besides the amazing school buildings, the rest of the area surrounding the main university buildings are also great. Its hard for me to describe, maybe the closest will be to imagine NUS, with all the roads within NUS pedestrianised, and the whole campus surrounded by Holland Village like buildings and places. There's no big shopping malls in University City, but there are alot of small shops with lots of character around. There is just so much to see and do!
Oh and what's surprising is that everyone walks around here. This may be due to the good weather, and also the transportation system kind of sucks. Oh and also the city is laid out in such a way that its great for walking. Its basically a grid, with the vertical streets from right to left numbered (for example, 1st street, 2nd street...) and the horizontal streets from top to bottom named (market street, ludlow, walnut, chestnut, and where I am staying, Pine Street). Oh yeah speaking of where I am staying, its this street just beside the university buildings. Its 2 rows of 3 storey houses facing each other across the road and its owned by a housing unit of U Penn. So as you can imagine, everyone staying in these houses are students. The other day I just met my neighbours, a very pretty brunette european girl, a black french lady called Rachel (she's doing law), and there is this hot blonde living on the 2nd storey though me and my roommate have not had the chance to talk to her yet. Haha. We are living on the ground floor by the way.
Ok I think this post is getting too long. Will get into more details if I can in a later post. Right now, got to go back to studying! The notes are also amazing, amazingly thick! haha... later
D
My place from the outside.
Locust walk, the main pathway that cuts through the center of the campus and where everyone walks to classes. Its highlighted as the blue line in the map.
On arrival... the feeling was actually surreal. Taking the subway, walking on the streets, it almost feels like I am stepping into a movie. There is an air of freedom as I look around me. So many people of different races and skin colour, speaking different languages, white americans, african americans, chinese, koreans, indians, japanese, hispanics, europeans... This is America! I can't wait to see the rest of it.
Anyway, the place I am staying at is called University City. It is 1 of 3 cities in Philadelphia(or so I was told). Well needless to say, University City seems like it was built for the Universities. I think there are a few universities around here, like Drexel, and of course, the famous University of Pennsylvania. Its full of students, and the environment I can only describe it as vibrant, yet scholarly. People here take their school work very seriously, of course its not surprising since this is the top 7 university in US now (last year it was 4th). But what's different from NUS is I guess people really enjoy studying here. Their faces says it all!
Besides the amazing school buildings, the rest of the area surrounding the main university buildings are also great. Its hard for me to describe, maybe the closest will be to imagine NUS, with all the roads within NUS pedestrianised, and the whole campus surrounded by Holland Village like buildings and places. There's no big shopping malls in University City, but there are alot of small shops with lots of character around. There is just so much to see and do!
Oh and what's surprising is that everyone walks around here. This may be due to the good weather, and also the transportation system kind of sucks. Oh and also the city is laid out in such a way that its great for walking. Its basically a grid, with the vertical streets from right to left numbered (for example, 1st street, 2nd street...) and the horizontal streets from top to bottom named (market street, ludlow, walnut, chestnut, and where I am staying, Pine Street). Oh yeah speaking of where I am staying, its this street just beside the university buildings. Its 2 rows of 3 storey houses facing each other across the road and its owned by a housing unit of U Penn. So as you can imagine, everyone staying in these houses are students. The other day I just met my neighbours, a very pretty brunette european girl, a black french lady called Rachel (she's doing law), and there is this hot blonde living on the 2nd storey though me and my roommate have not had the chance to talk to her yet. Haha. We are living on the ground floor by the way.
Ok I think this post is getting too long. Will get into more details if I can in a later post. Right now, got to go back to studying! The notes are also amazing, amazingly thick! haha... later
D
My place from the outside.
Locust walk, the main pathway that cuts through the center of the campus and where everyone walks to classes. Its highlighted as the blue line in the map.
